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Advantages of moving to permanent residence in Berlin for IT professionals

Where to go to the programmer and developer on the European continent? Germany is one of the best destinations for IT professionals. And Berlin is generally the second largest city in Europe in terms of the number of start-ups. I have collected the most important information on the German capital, which will be of interest to the readers of Habr. I am sure many will be interested in Berlin not only in terms of earnings. It is also a true cultural youth center of the European Union. It has created all the infrastructure for comfortable work and entrepreneurship in the startup sector.

Brief description of Berlin


Berlin is the second most populated city in the European Union. Almost 4 million people live in it. If you take the agglomeration around it, then it will amount to more than 6 million inhabitants. Currently, the German capital is also the second largest ecosystem of the IT industry after London. According to some reports, there are more than 100,000 people from post-Soviet countries in Berlin. They have united in various communities of interest. Therefore, in his spare time, the expat will be able to find interlocutors and friends among his compatriots.

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The gross domestic product of the capital exceeds 100 billion euros. It grows by approximately 1.5% annually. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, there is still a difference in the development of West and East Berlin. Life in the eastern part is more accessible. There are cheaper and rental offices (bureaus). Therefore, a significant part of business incubators is concentrated in East Berlin.

Providers and Internet Speed ​​in Berlin


On the network you can find many negative reviews on providers in Berlin and other major cities in Germany. In this service sector, bureaucracy is thriving, in fact, as in public services. A “headache” can be expected when changing tariff plans, communicating with technical support due to the lack of Internet, which does not correspond to the speed.

Optical fiber is not routed everywhere. In the capital, DSL-Internet is often found. Such things sound unusual for people from our large cities, but you can get high-speed Internet from DSL providers, even by the standards of 2019.

Of course, you will have to choose from those providers whose communications are brought into the house in which you live, or the office center where your office is located.

In Berlin, the largest providers are:

  • O2
  • 1 & 1
  • Vodafone
  • Leaseweb
  • Kabel Deutschland
  • Unityity
  • Deutsche Telekom - Fiber Optic

There are convenient services on the Web for comparing providers and concluding contracts with them online. For example, you can use the services of the Check24 portal.

If only DSL is available in the house, it doesn’t matter where you go, not all tariffs will be available until Deutsche Telekom brings the fiber somewhere nearby. Only this company is engaged in organizing the last mile to private clients. There is only one alternative - a connection similar to a television coaxial cable. It is offered by Deutschkabel and Unitymedia. Check24 service will help you make the right choice.

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NGA fiber optic broadband network is being completed at CleanTech Berlin-Marzahn Business Park. This is a single project of the telecommunication company NET Internet Service GmbH with the support of the broadband financing program of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. It will provide uninterrupted data transfer rate of 1 Gbit / s for large and individual clients.

Vacancies for IT Professionals in Berlin


Germany is experiencing an acute shortage of IT specialists. In the country as a whole, there are about 100,000 open vacancies in the IT sector. Of these, Berlin accounts for about 20,000.

The average annual salary in the IT industry in the German capital is 59,000 euros without tax deductions. This level is quite enough for a person with higher education to apply for the Blue Card and quickly obtain permanent residence status. And these are not the highest salaries of IT specialists in the country. For example, they are higher in the lands of Hesse, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and even Hamburg. It is clear that IT representatives will find higher salaries in the south of Germany, but the cost of living there will be higher for them.

Now every company has an IT specialist position. However, for system administrators in such firms, the amount of wages depends on the earnings received in the particular niche of the business in which they specialize.

Programmers, junior level developers earn on average 30-50 thousand a year. Income directly depends on work experience. Experienced specialists already receive 40-60 thousand. For senior level specialists, the range of salaries ranges from 50 to 100 thousand.

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From year to year, salaries are growing at all levels, correlating with the inflation index.

  1. The posts of system administrators are mainly occupied by the Germans themselves. It is more difficult for foreigners to get such a job.
  2. The most easily achievable goal for an expat is to find a job as a programmer. Mostly programming experience is taken into account. The level of knowledge of the German language is far from the main factor.
  3. IT Consultant - Highly paid position. It helps to introduce automation programs in enterprises, to start and develop various projects. In this matter, customer experience is important. Accordingly, a foreigner in this position must have an excellent knowledge of the German language.

In Berlin, more than 1000 IT companies are registered. Among them are the following:

  • Evrone
  • Yourserveradmin
  • Implisense
  • Canto
  • Sensorberg
  • Webcrowd.

The last three of them are startups recently registered, but have already achieved success.

How does freelance work in Berlin?


It is worth noting that in Germany independent programmers are not considered freelancers. From a legal point of view, they fall under the category of individual entrepreneurs. Freelance in Germany is a lesson that requires special academic training. Freelancers can be teachers, consultants, lawyers. For example, an independent IT consultant - a freelancer.

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The main part of the ecosystem of the IT sector of the local economy is concentrated in the central region of East Berlin. This is not surprising, there are cheaper rental offices and apartments.

Berlin Coworking:

  • ESDIP Berlin
  • betahaus
  • Agora collective
  • Cluboffice
  • Co-up
  • Launch / co
  • Office Club Berlin Prenzlauer Berg.

Berlin business incubators and accelerators:

  • Startup Bootcamp Berlin is a Europe-wide business accelerator. Startups get direct access to an international database of investors and mentors in the relevant industry.
  • Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator - held three times a year. Financial support and access to a large database of mentors and partners from Silicon Valley.
  • hub: raum - incubator from Deutsche Telekom. To start startups, jobs are allocated in the coworking space. Mentors support, search for partners in the structure of Deutsche Telekom subsidiaries.

Demand for IT Services in Berlin


Today, almost 175,000 companies operate in the German capital. As mentioned above, almost all of them need the services of IT professionals. Some of them hire programmers, developers, or system administrators to their staff. Others turn to freelancers.

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Specialized IT companies for the most part provide services to customers not from Berlin, but from other German cities and countries. IT specialists who have moved to permanent residence in Germany have a choice where to go: to become a freelancer or an employee in IT companies. Without a good knowledge of the German language, it is better to try to take a vacancy in specialized companies. In many of them, groups communicate with each other in English, as they consist of foreigners. In companies from other industries, one expat sysadmin will encounter a purely German team with whom they will need to communicate in their language.

Training IT at universities in Berlin


I advise future students to enter the faculty of information technology at Berlin universities. Public graduate support programs and private incubators are available to graduates. The Faculty of Informatics and Electrical Engineering of the

Berlin Technical University prepares in the following specialties:

  • High frequency technology
  • Automated Systems
  • Technical informatics
  • Computational Neuroscience
  • Innovations in the field of information and communication technologies.

All over the country, about 8,000 IT specialists graduate annually, while the demand is 100,000. Therefore, they are so eager to hire foreigners with education obtained in their home country. However, recognition of the diploma corresponding to German education must be confirmed. Young professionals are hired with salaries of 30,000 or more per year.

If you still have questions about the infrastructure and market conditions of the IT industry in Berlin, ask them in the comments, I will try to help.

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